WWF ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017 HELD IN MANADO INDONESIA: SEA DELIGHT CONTRIBUTES PRESENTATION
Manado, Indonesia, May 9, 2017.
Hosted by WWF Indonesia, WWF international held its annual conference here this week. Representatives from WWF offices worldwide assembled to continue the conservation work the NGO has been doing since its founding in 1961. The conference focused on the work of WWF in 6 key international conservation concerns; Wildlife, Oceans, Forests, Climate and Energy and Markets and Finance.
WWF representatives gathered from offices worldwide (courtesy WWF Indonesia)
The opening ceremony featured a stunning musical introduction followed by a compelling video on WWF Indonesia’s work in the traditional semi-automatous Kingdom of Kataloka and the island of Koon. On Koon, traditional local royalty still controls community affairs and provides management of the fishing grounds surrounding the Island. With the cooperation of WWF, the community has been empowered to manage local fisheries and cooperate with both responsible live bottomfish fishers and a growing level of live-aboard dive tour visitors. The result is a community and ecosystem well on the way towards achieving sustainability.
Kesaia Tabunakawai, head of the WWF Pacific Program Office speaks on conservation and community development work in Fiji and the South Pacific region
Sea Delight representative Stephen Fisher was among the keynote speakers for the opening ceremonies. He spoke about the work Sea Delight has done in the Luwuk Banggai bottomfish fishery. The primary message of the presentation was that “Places like Koon are the cornerstone of our company’s business model. Sourcing high quality fish from well managed sources and achieving sustainability, in our view, means achieving the right balance of sound fishing practices and benefiting communities.”
The presentation told the story of the early development of a bottomfish FIP in In Luwuk Banggai . It included a cautionary example of how a likely location for a community based Marine Protected Area (MPA) turned out to be more complicated after a second visit.
Yapara Island, off Central Sulawesi. Featured in the Sea Delight presentation
The presentation ended on a high note citing the achievements of the FIP to date.
“The fishery has been mapped using hand-held GPS communication devices. Three years of paper-based catch data collection are being supplemented by a tab-based electronic data collection system. Extensive biological information on the target species has been collected. All of this data is ready for analysis leading to the development of a management plan for the fishery that is in line with the Indonesian National Snapper and Grouper FIP.”
Sea Delight extends warm thanks to WWF Indonesia for inviting our participation in the 2017 Annual Conference. And, as in our presentation, Sea Delight recognizes that “protecting our source of business under growing global demand requires broad partnerships with communities, civil society and the private sector.”
Local fishing vessel, Central Sulawesi